1 PRE-KINDERGARTEN ADMISSIONS TRAINING

2 PowerPoint Cover “Little Tiny Mouse” designed by: Nyla Pesantes – Kindergarten PS/IS 180, The Homewood School, Brooklyn Andrea Shelfo - Teacher

3 Overview The public schools Pre-Kindergarten Admissions Process provides:  Equity of access with a uniform enrollment process  Single application for public school pre- Kindergarten programs  Clear guidelines and admissions priorities  No first-come, first served enrollment for public school pre-Kindergarten programs

4 Highlights This past school year:  547 schools participated in the centralized NYC DOE pre-K enrollment process  23,580 children applied and 20,780 children received offers  21,579 students are currently attending a DOE school- based pre-K program

5 Key Dates  March 6 – Pre-Kindergarten Application Period Opens; Pre-Kindergarten Directory and Applications available in schools, online, and Borough Enrollment Offices  April 3 - Pre-Kindergarten Application Period Closes  Week of May 18 – Families receive offer letters  May 18 – May 29 – Families pre-register at schools

6 Outreach Schools should continue to host open houses and school fairs, conduct tours, and continue in all ways to reach out to parents as they have done in the past. The public school pre-K admissions process is the same for all eligible students. Therefore we’re asking schools to assist any parent who wants information about the pre-K admissions process. Schools can provide parents with the pre-Kindergarten directory and encourage parents to attend one of the pre-K information sessions that will be held throughout the city. All information sessions will be held from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. See the next slide for sessions dates and locations.

7 Pre-K Information Session Schedule 3/3/09BrooklynAndries Hudde 3/3/09ManhattanH.S. for Health Professions and Human Services 3/4/09BrooklynBrooklyn Technical High School 3/5/09QueensJohn Adams High School 3/5/09BronxTheodore Roosevelt Educational Campus 3/10/09BrooklynSeth Low – IS 96 3/10/09ManhattanLouis D. Brandeis High School 3/11/09BronxPS/MS 194 3/11/09Staten IslandNew Dorp High School 3/12/09BrooklynJ.H.S. 291 Roland Hayes 3/12/09QueensAviation High School

8 Advertising Your Open Houses and Tours If your school would like assistance advertising your open houses for your pre-Kindergarten programs, etc. please provide the Office of Student Enrollment with the dates/locations/times and we can post this information on the Elementary School Enrollment webpage. We can also send the information to families via the DOE pre-Kindergarten parent list.

9 Pre-K Directories And Applications Available March 6 Pre-Kindergarten directories and applications will be delivered to Elementary Schools beginning Thursday, February 26 through Thursday, March 5. It will take approximately one week to deliver directories to all the schools. With that in mind, we are asking schools to not distribute the directories to families until Friday, March 6, the day the pre-Kindergarten application period opens.

10 Eligibility Children born between January 1 and December 31, 2005, who will turn four years old between January 1 and December 31, 2009, and who reside in New York City are eligible to participate in UPK programs that are offered by the New York City Department of Education. Parents/Guardians of applicants must be NYC residents and must apply for a public school UPK program through the centralized DOE admissions process.

11 Admission Priorities Siblings will be given first preference for admission to all UPK programs in public school in the following priority order:  Siblings applying to a pre-Kindergarten program at their zoned elementary school.  Siblings with no zoned school or whose zoned school has no pre-Kindergarten program, applying to a school with a pre- Kindergarten program within their district.  Siblings who are zoned for a school with a pre-Kindergarten program, but are applying to another school with a pre- Kindergarten program within their district.  Siblings applying to a pre-Kindergarten program outside their district but in their borough.  Siblings applying to a pre-Kindergarten program outside their borough.

12 Admission Priorities After sibling preference, non-siblings will be admitted according to the following order of priority:  Non-siblings applying to a pre-Kindergarten program at their zoned elementary school.  Non-siblings with no zoned school or whose zoned school has no pre-Kindergarten program, applying to a school with a pre- Kindergarten program within their district.  Non-siblings who are zoned for a school with a pre- Kindergarten program, but are applying to another school with a pre-Kindergarten program within their district.  Non-siblings applying to a pre-Kindergarten program outside their district but in their borough.  Non-siblings applying to a pre-Kindergarten program outside their borough.

13 Admissions Priorities Continued If there are more students applying for available seats within a priority group, there will be a random assignment process for the available seats. This admissions process is administered by the Office of Student Enrollment. Class size for public school pre-K programs is 18 students per class. The number of assignments will be made in accordance with the projected number of classes. This determination is made by the Office of Portfolio Development.

14 Siblings For the purpose of assignment priority, a sibling is a brother or sister (including half-brothers, half-sisters, stepbrothers, stepsisters, foster brothers, and foster sisters) of the applicant, who lives in the same household. In an elementary school, a younger sibling receives sibling priority only if the older child will be enrolled in grade five or below in that school at the start of the following school year. We are asking schools to verify sibling status before assignments are made.

15 Siblings Continued Schools will be provided with a list of students who have applied to their school, and identified as having an older sibling who will attend that school for the school year. Schools will need to verify that the sibling priority is valid for the child applying.

16 There is NO Pre-K to K Articulation There is no guarantee for a placement into a pre- Kindergarten program. Students do not automatically articulate from pre-Kindergarten to Kindergarten. All pre-Kindergarten students must apply for admission to a Kindergarten program. At every opportunity, parents should be reminded of this policy.

17 Pre-K Enrollment Projections The Office of Portfolio Development, in coordination with the Office of Early Childhood Education and the Office of Student Enrollment, determines the number of pre-K classes per school. Decisions are based on available funding, facility space and program demand. This past fall, Portfolio Development solicited requests to increase or decrease current pre-K allocations. If the current number of pre-K classes at your school changed from last year to this year, this change will be reflected in your pre-K enrollment projection.

18 Application Guidelines  All eligible students (current residents of NYC born in 2005) applying to a public school pre-K program this year will have two ways in which to apply.  Families can choose to either complete the online application or complete the application included in the directory.  Based on feedback from last year’s process and our commitment to continuous improvement of the process, we are excited to launch a new online pre-Kindergarten application.  We would like to encourage families to apply using the new online application. The online application only takes about 30 minutes to complete and families will receive an confirmation that their application has been received. In addition, when families apply online they will receive their child’s pre-K assignment offer by . This will streamline the process for families.

19 Application Guidelines Continued  For families that choose to complete the application included in the directory, a business return envelope will be provided (also included in the directory) to mail the completed application.  An application receipt card will be sent to families within two weeks after the application is received to confirm receipt of the application.  Only one application per child either online or the application included in the directory must be submitted for public school pre-K.  Families should check the directory to see which sessions (AM, PM, or Full Day) are offered in the schools. Families can list only one session time for each school choice. This means that families must list a school more than once if they are applying for more than one session time at that school.

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21 Online Application Screen Preview

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30 Pre-Registration Guidelines  Families will be notified about their pre-K assignment offer the week of May 18,  Families who accept an assignment must bring the child to pre- register for pre-Kindergarten between May 18 and May 29 at the school in which the family was offered a placement.  The pre-registration screen in ATS will remain open through June 5 for schools to complete round 1 pre-K pre-registration. Details will be available on ATS news.  Families must provide proof of birth and residence during the pre- registration period.  Pre-registration becomes effective after all documentation requirements are met.

31 Round 1 ATS Pre-K Pre-Registration The Pre-K Pre-Registration Screen (QPKF) will be available on ATS beginning May 18. Schools will access the QPKF screen to complete the pre- registration process for students who have been offered an assignment to that school’s DBN. This file will contain a roster and some pre-populated student biographical data, parent data and address data. A student must appear on the roster provided to be pre- registered into pre-K.

32 Required Documents for Pre-Registration In order for a student to pre-register into a New York City public school the parent and the child must both appear and must present the following documents: - 2 verifiable proofs of residence; - Child’s birth certificate or passport; - Child’s immunization records; Please refer to Chancellor’s regulation – A101 for details.

33 Community-Based Organization (CBO) Universal Pre-Kindergarten Families who wish to apply to a Community-Based Organization (CBO) program must obtain the CBO application directly from the CBO or the DOE website. Community-based organizations will continue to enroll their own students. Unlike the public school UPK process in which a single application is used to apply to all schools, families must submit an individual application to each CBO program they are considering for their child. Each CBO will notify parents directly about their placement offers and about how to pre-register at the CBO UPK site. It is therefore possible for students to apply to public school and CBO UPK programs and to receive offers to both.

34 For Families Applying to Community- Based Organization (CBO) Universal Pre-Kindergarten Programs STEP 1 – Review the list of CBO UPK programs provided in the Pre-K Directory to identify programs that may be right for your child and family. STEP 2 – Call and/or visit CBO UPK programs that interest you. STEP 3 – Complete one CBO UPK application for each CBO program to which you are applying. Submit each application directly to the UPK at the CBO site. STEP 4 – Each CBO UPK site will notify you directly about whether space is available for your child and about pre- registration procedures for September 2009 admissions.

35 Contacts Any questions or concerns please contact Marty Barr, Executive Director Elementary School Enrollment at or Kim Cobb, Manager Elementary School Enrollment at Information about Universal Pre-Kindergarten admissions can be found online at